 |
|
|
 |
| Internet Bible Study Email | Guest Book | Briefe an mich | |
 |
|||
About the Reverend Doctor Rodney Clive Simmonds
Life from 1948 - 1997
I was born in Hastings, Sussex, England into a home which centred around the church.
![](http://www.ilovejesus.com/myhome/rodneycsimmonds/Babyrodney.jpg")
I studied computer science in the stone age of computing when programming had to be done in either machine code or assembly at Blackburn College of Technology and Design in the northwest of England. There I had my first culture shock when I found I could not understand one word of what certain people were speaking. I finished with distinctions in digital computing and statistics. At this same time I studied for a diploma in youth leadership and taught cookery in a local youth club!
My first job was working as a mathematician/programmer for the British Aircraft Corporation at Warton Aerodrome between Preston and Lytham St. Annes in Lancashire -- I worked on the Jaguar and Tornado aircraft. I then worked for AEG-Telefunken in Konstanz, Germany helping to write Algol60 and COBOL compilers for the TR4 range of computers and for the Swiss Federal Government in their Forestry Research Institute in Birmensdorf, Switzerland as a mathematician/programmer. In both Germany and Switzerland I also taught English while trying to improve my German and Swiss German (Zueri Duutsch).
I started my full time theological studies at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Rüschlikon, Switzerland and continued them at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary at Wake Forest, North Carolina in the USA where I studied for my Master of Divinity and Doctorate in Christian Education.
I spent twelve years as a missionary tent maker in Nepal before returning to England for two years followed by three years in Pakistan. I had a very happy time in Nepal as an educator and saw many seeds developing. Two of the boys who stayed with me in Nepal went on to study to become pastors and one of whom was a pastor in the village of Barpak in Gorkha District but took two years off to do further studies [MDiv] at a seminary in Korea before now teaching at a Bible School in the Kathmandu Valley. He is married with a 13 year old daughter and a 9 year old son. As well as teaching, writing school text books, being a school administrator, teacher trainer I was director of the Khairipati Integrated Development Project which was involved in health education, toilet building, making a new water supply. In Pakistan in addition to teaching, being a school administrator and teacher trainer I was also pastor of an International Church in Lahore.
After Pakistan I returned to England to care for my elderly parents but continued to teach English to foreign students as time permitted. After two years both my parents died within three weeks of each other. After settling my parents affairs and moving house from Herne Bay to Canterbury I came to Linz on the River Danube in Upper Austria having previously passed through on a cycle trip along the Danube cycle path from Passau to Hainburg.
In the winter of 2005/6 we had snow on the ground from mid Movember until mid March. The first weekend in March we had two more feet of snow and one more foot of snow in the following three days. I spent 12 hours clearing snow away that first weekend in March. The conditions made cycling around difficult that winter but it did not stop me getting out on my bicycle. On the first Sunday in April in 2006 I cycled 80 kms down the Danube to have lunch with friends in Perg.
The winters 2006/7 & 2007/8 we had hardly any snow at all. Now I have moved across the river Danube to Treffling and just outside Linz up yet another hill and 2 kms from the closest Linz AG bus stop and 3 kms from the end of the tramlines 1 & 2. The new place is just 2 mins walk from a post bus stop. My place has 3 rooms on the first floor of a house with an elderly couple [Josef & Rosie Goell] living on the ground floor. They have 3 children [Erhard, Dietmar & Ilse] & 3 grandchildren all living in Vienna. The couple spend their winters in Vienna staying in a house which is owned by Dietmar & Ilse -- this house has 5 flats and in the west of Vienna close to the Palace of Schoenbrunn. I have been assigned a section of the garden on the west side of the house where I am growing flowers, soft fruit and vegetables.
Now I return to England only at Christmas and once in the summer because of the increasing cost of travelling. From October 2008 I will have a Seniors' Railcard and will be able also to get free bus travel in Canterbury as I have my 60th birthday on the 9th October. This year[2008] I went to Poland for 8 days and it was very exhausting -- since the week I have visited two lots of folks [Rohr & Kremsmunster] I met on the trip, two of whom worked at AEG-Telefunken in Konstanz at the same time as me. The previous year[2007] I had had 4 days in Poland at the spa town of Bud Ustrom close to the source of the main river of Poland which flows through the capital Warsaw. In August 2008 I had 3 nights on a 'Werbereise' close to the Moselle Valley. For Easter 2008 I was for 3 nights on the Istrian coast of Dalmatia on another 'Werbereise' when it rained a great deal and hope to have another 3 nights in Istrian in the middle of September 2008 on yet another 'Werbereise' close to one of the Croatian national parks. In August 2008 also a trip is planned to the Tauplitzalm and on April Fools' Day 2008 I was in Krumau in Bohemia where it also rained but have made lsss trips than I did in 2007. This last week I spent two nights staying with my friends in Perg and keeping the two older children [Debbie 7 and Joshua 5] occupied. Earlier in the school holidays I had also spent a day with them. Also celebrated Joshua's 5th birthday and Sarah's 2nd birthdays with the family. I have had one private student for the last 5 years and this last academic year[2007/8] had two pupils for coaching. One of whom I expect to have for the academic year 2008/9. In February of 2008 I spent a week with my friends in Sorengo in Tessin. I studied in seminary with Luigi. I was also able to spend a couple of nights with my friends in Obfelden in Canton Zuerich.
Present Life in Linz
I have been teaching English for ten years to people in Linz in their work places. I came to work for a company which soon went bankrupt and a second company I worked for also went bankrupt losing two thousand Euros each time. (Austrian companies do not seem too successfull!!!!). Five years ago I was teaching NCOs of the Austrian Army in the NCO Academy (HUAK) in Enns on the border of Upper and Lower Austria. I co teach with Austrian teachers of English in the Vocational Schools of Upper Austria and formerly taught specialist courses at Chemie Linz(Borealis).
I had a room until the end of May 2007 in the Römerstraße twenty minutes walk uphill from the centre of the city (Main Square) and on the half hourly bus route number 26 which goes to the top of the Freienberg. It had an area of about 31 sq. metres The room is in the basement of a fifties extension to a villa built in 1904 using poor quality building materials so there is a problem with damp and I had a dehumidifyer going constantly. It had a garden where I could sit in the summer and enjoy entertaining folks in my room as I did especially over the Christmas season and in the garden during the sumer months. I had added to the basic furnishing and a friend from Perg had helped me put up shelves for videos, DVDs, books and audio cassettes as well as other teaching materials. I enjoyed working in the garden and cut the grass weekly as my landlady a retired school teacher is 96. I planted some fruit bushes and harvested my own planted raspberries and blackcurrants. In 2005 I planted two gooseberry bushes and two more raspberry canes. The vine I planted 2 years ago grew well and I harvested quite a good number of bunches of grapes. I have planted a number of bulbs which I can see in the spring time from my window as well as gladioli & dahlias for the autumn.
The house is owned by two old ladies six months different in age and who have been quarelling for more than fifty years and when they are both in the house I have to communicate between the two of them. My landlady is the aunt of the other as my landlady is the second wife of the third son while the other lady is the only daughter of the eldest son. The other lady spends most of the year in a property owned by her daughter in Kitzbuhl in Tirol so there is not so much quarelling. She has never forgiven my landlady for marrying the third son more than fifty years ago who had divorced his first wife and two daughters. My former landlady had had six children one of whom has died but four of the remaining five are older than me so she has many grandchildren and great grandchildren.
I relax by listening to the English BBC radio which I hear via the internet as the BBC has stopped braodcasting analogue signals via satelite. I enjoy cycling and walking and often average 40kms per day as in 2005 on Corpus Christi I visited the monastery in Kremsmunster as well as a former colleague who lives in Bad Hall but those days we had temperatures around 35C/98F so I did not cycle more than I have to. Four years ago[2004] I also cycled to visit the oldest Protestant Church in Austria which is situated above the valley of the river Krems in Neu Kematen in the gemeinde area of Piberbach where I know three people living -- In 2008 I have visited Judith Kranewatter twice in Piberbach.
I also have ridden on most of the steam trains in the eastern part of Austria. During 2002 I rode steam trains in the Hausruck quarter of Upper Austria, ridden two steam trains from Ried to Ashach and then by paddle steamer to Passau and back from Passau to Ried by steam train as well as riding the steam train commemorating the opening of the first section of the Wood Quarter Railway in Lower Austria. In 2003 I went to the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Wood Quarter Railway. I also went to the steam festival in Selzthal but financial constraints have curtailed my ability to pursue my hobby further these past years. In 2006, the Upper Austrian Exhibition was celebrating Coal and Steam so the Austrian Society for Railway History [OGEG] of which I am a member ran weekly trains from Vienna to the exhibition centre at Ampfelwang and so steam trains ran through Linz on Saturdays and Sundays every weekend from May to September. I went to Krumau in 2006 and in 2007 I went by steam train to Graz for the 150th anniversary of the Sued Bahn.
During the holiday times I go to my residence in England. I have a single storey terrace house in the Hales Place area of Canterbury two miles from the Cathedral where I go for services each day. In Linz I really miss the wonderful music of the Canterbury cathedral choir and the daily 8 am communion services in different chapels in the cathedral. In England I help as a volunteer travelling ticket inspector/station master on the Kent and East Sussex Railway which runs a distance of 11 miles from Tenterden to Bodiam where there is a mediaeval castle. In Austria I am a member of the Austrian Society for Railway History OeGEG.
My house in Canterbury has three bedrooms, living room and a conservatory which I use as a dining room in addition to the kitchen and bathroom. It has a small garden at the front and back. I enjoy working in the garden but I am glad that it is not so large as the house I grew up in Herne Bay which took a great deal of time. I have a double bed, single bed and bunk beds in the house plus extra matresses so can accomodate you if you come to stay when I am at home. I have had Indian tenants renting one room there since September 2004 -- see below.
In Linz I am not a member of any church but sometimes attend Grace International Fellowship in Auhof, a Linz suburb near the university and this church meets at 6 pm on Saturday evenings but unfortuantely has very loud 'pop' like music which reverberates and gives me a headache. I really miss the close spiritual fellowship I have experienced in many parts of the world and find the Austrians cold with no deep love of spiritual things. They are inward looking and not evangelical or hospitable. I seemed to have less problems worshipping in Germany and Switzerland.
In the summer of 2000, I returned after eight years to Nepal to visit former friends and former students of mine for three weeks. I found the pollution in the Kathmamndu Valley to be very bad and was glad to escape to the rim of the valley at Nagarkot where the air was much cleaner and it was possible to see the snow covered Himalayan peaks. I spent most of the time at the Mendies Haven, home now for 26 children and Betty Mendies celebrated her 86th birthday on the 30th September having helped there with children since 1956. In the past I have taught many of the children many of whom are now married and living in places like the USA, Canada as well as Nepal. The children have devotions mornings and evenings at 6 am and 6 pm for half an hour and I lead their devotions during my stay there. I also helped the children with their homework and found it stimulating to be teaching mathematics once more especially the optional maths with its matricees and trigonemtry. I found that my Nepali came back to me and I was able to communicate well in it. I had a hard time getting used to washing only in cold water and caught a bad cold from it. I didn't get used to the belching fumes of all the vehicles plying on the roads and making them break up. I was glad to return to Austria with its relatively clean air.
In 2000, I also had a long weekend in Switzerland visiting former friends, colleagues and former fellow students at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Rüschlikon and in 2001 had a weekend in Lugano, Switzerland visiting former students. I visited Lugano [Sorengo] again in June 2005 and stayed with Luigi & Hanni DiFortunato whom I studied with in seminary. Luigi pastors a German speaking church in Tessin as well as being a prison chaplain and teaching RE in schools. I also saw Rene & Traudi Lehman who also live close by and with whom we also studied.
In the summer of 2001 I revisited North America but it was not the success which I had hoped. The USA had not improved since I was last there 19 years before. I had good times in Atlanta, Georgia; Mobile, Alabalama; Kelowna, British Columbia; Butler, Pennsylvania and Windsor, Conneticut. Travel by bus was not a good experience - rude drivers who lost their ways, lost luggage, violent officials beating up pasengers etc. I did have several good journeys by train though. It was nice to see people whom I hadn't seen for 27 years since studying in seminary as well as some new folks whom I only knew through the internet.
During the summer of 2002 I taught again for Concorde International and in the summers of 2003 & 2004 I taught for Stafford House with their adult intensive programme although this last summer I had to teach teenage brats to begin with which I did not enjoy so I did not return to Stafford House last summer[2005] nor was there work with Concord.
In 2007 I had one night at Siafok on Lake Balaton and a 5 day trip to a spa, Bad Ulstron for my birthday in the former German Silesia and the part of Poland where more than 50% of the population is Protestant. Day trips to the Gross Glockner and another alpine road in Styria/Carynthia
In 2006 I had a trip visiting the Christmas markets in Dresden, Leipzig, Altenburg and Regensburg and earlier in the year stayed at a spa [Marienbad] in the Czech Republic. In 2005 I had two 2 night trips to Lake Balaton staying the first time at Fonyod and the second time at Balatonmariafonyod both on the south west shore of the lake on advertising trips which have enabled me to see the wine region of Badacsonytomaj, the Festetics Palace in Keszthely & riding on the narrow guage railway from Balatonfonyves to Somagyszentpal. Many prices in Hungary are now the same as Austria but wine is still much cheaper as is food in small restaurants. It was good to be able to use my limited Hungarian having studied it in 4 evening courses but find it an extremely difficult language on a par with Hebrew and Newari. My attempt at studying a 13th language has not been a success!
In previous years I have also had 2 advertising trips to South Tirol. Advertising trips are where you have to spend a morning listening to someone promoting various products and this makes the day trip or holiday cheaper. On day trips you often get the briefest of time in the advertised place but enjoyed a trip to Berchtesgarden last year but we did not go up to Hitler's nest at Obersalzberg [There is a salt mine down below and is not to be confused with Salzburg (Salt Castle) which is a few kilometres away in Austria] as it was still covered in snow and there was still a lot of snow lying in Berchtesgarden itself but I liked the liquers in the Enzian Distillery. The Enzian roots are mostly grown commercially in Germany and not gathered from the mountain sides as they are protected plants. The use the brown Enzian rather than the more famous blue one.
I expect to be in Linz at least until the summer of 2009 although returning to my house in England during the summer for four weeks depending on what work comes along. I am now in my 11th year of being in Linz.
I had an Indian family (husband who is an automative engineer, wife is a nurse together with their eight year old son Joel) from Karnataka living in my house in Canterbury who have been there almost four years and they went home to India in the summer[2006] for five weeks again as they did two years earlier. During their time there it has enabled me to renew the back garden fence and to have the conservatory decorated and the bathroom reconverted back into a separate toilet and bathroom. Now the central heating needs redoing which will be a major expense. I continue to work on the garden hopefully improving things Last summer I harvested rhubarb, blackcurrants, apples and tomatoes from the garden. Baby & Joel returned in May 2008 for Joel to start in boarding school and for Baby to help his elderly parents spervise their fruit farm. Lucy continues to nurse at weekends at the Nursing Home in Harbledeown close to where I lived while doing my PGCE. During June 2008 the central heating boiler was renewed and also enabled me to heat water with gas instead of electricity. The cost was born with a legacy from the late Marjorie Lambe who died in 2007. Marjorie had been born Ceylon [now Sri Lanka] to Methodist Missionary parents and had been my mother's closest friend during their lives. I continued to visit Marjorie in Clacton until her death. Now only Freda [98 years young] remains of my parents' childhood friends and I visit her in Hampton Hill near Heathrow airport as I did in June 2008. Elsie Simmonds my Father's younger brother's widow is also still alive and I try and visit her once a year as well as my cousin Anne her adopted daughter.
Thanks for visiting my site and hope that this has helped you to find out a little bit more about me. Please email me if you would like to know more or have questions.
May God bless each of you!
HomeEmailLinz Baptist ChurchSt. Andrew's URC, Watling Street, CanterburyMail for Internet Bible StudyBriefe an mich
